The Festival 2014 Presented by the Shelton Brothers & Sharefest, Inc.

Warehouse No 10 held The Festival 2014 in its spacious beauty

As far as craft beer festivals go in Los Angeles, plentiful offerings of the newest and rarest releases are standard. However, the Shelton Brothers & The Festivaltopped all typical event offerings, bringing to town a magnitude of rarities and imports, sparking the interests and whetting the insatiable thirst of even the most avid craft enthusiasts.

Denmark’s Mikkeller brought some very rich and delicious offerings

The Festival, held at the historic waterfront of the Port of Los Angeles, in San Pedro’s Warehouse 10, which is home to Crafted, a large-scale handmade artisan marketplace, and the soon-to-open Brouwerij West. The event took place on November 8 & 9, offering two four-hour sessions each day. $45 admission per session and a variety of drink ticket options granted access along with a souvenir 4 ounce glass, and attendees quenched their appetite while their patronage supported Sharefest, Inc., a community development program that works to strengthen communities and meet the needs of children and families in the South Bay.

Montseny’s Negra a tasty dry irish stout

Participants were eclectic as the styles of beers being offered at the event, pulling in breweries from across the nation, and from as far away lands as Europe and Japan, even introducing wares not usually distributed in California. The warehouse was set up as a world market, with booths in each row offering a variety from different parts of the globe. Shiga Kogen from Japan tapped a house IPA, their take on the American classic. Belgium’s Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen and Cantillon offered their goods, including aged bottles of the Classic Sour Style beers, and Spain’s Montseny tapped their version of an Irish dry stout. Attendees got their fill of American breweries whose wares are not readily available in Southern California, sampling Tree House from Massachusetts, Jester King from Texas, Hill Farmstead from Vermont and Crooked Stave from Colorado. Special bottle club only breweries such as The Rare Barrel were also present.

Cantillon’s spectacular display

An event of this proportion can be a bit overwhelming, with so many styles of beers from all over the world, one can get lost between the seemingly endless rows and booths of treasure. From bourbon barrel aged to imperial style beers, whose taste flawlessly folds the high ABV, to the tasty sours and saisons that can make one’s acquired taste buds and mouth water, the senses can and do run wild. The Festival 2014 brought a world’s wares to our fingertips, and managed to satisfy each and every one of our cravings.